Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA AG 12 001
Apply for RFA AG 12 001
- The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Limited Competition The Health and Retirement Study (U01)" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.866 Aging Research.
- This funding opportunity was created on Apr 7, 2011 and posted on Apr 7, 2011.
- Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 10, 2011. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- The funding agency has allocated a total of $11,500,000.00 to eligible and selected applicants.
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
- Eligible applicants include: Independent school districts Private institutions of higher education Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education Special district governments City or township governments County governments Public and State controlled institutions of higher education For profit organizations other than small businesses State governments Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification) Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities Small businesses Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized) Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments).
- Other Eligible Applicants include the following Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions Eligible Agencies of the Federal Government Faith based or Community based Organizations Hispanic serving Institutions Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Indian/Native American Tribal Governments (Other than Federally Recognized) Regional Organizations Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs) U.S. Territory or Possession Non domestic (non U.S.) Entities (Foreign Organizations) are not eligible to apply. Foreign (non U.S.) components of U.S. Organizations are not allowed.
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Opportunity Summary:
This funding opportunity, titled "Limited Competition: The Health and Retirement Study (U01)" (Funding Opportunity Number RFA-AG-12-001), is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) cooperative agreement intended to support the continuation of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) for another six-year cycle. The HRS is positioned as a cornerstone, publicly available national data resource used by researchers, policy analysts, and program planners who focus on aging-related policy questions and decisions, especially those tied to retirement and financial security. In practical terms, the grant is aimed at keeping the HRS operating as a long-running longitudinal study that tracks the same individuals over time to understand how health, work, income, family circumstances, and broader economic conditions interact as people age.
The core purpose of the FOA is continuation rather than launching a new study. The emphasis is on maintaining the "steady-state" longitudinal design and its established cadence of data collection, while also improving and expanding what the study measures. The next phase is expected to preserve the backbone of the HRS (the ongoing follow-up of participants and the consistent content that enables trend analysis across many years), since that continuity is what makes the data so valuable for evaluating policy impacts and long-term changes in behavior, health, and economic outcomes. At the same time, NIH signals that this cycle should not be purely maintenance-focused; it should also include targeted innovation and methodological improvements to keep the study relevant as policy and scientific needs evolve.
A major theme of the opportunity is expanding and enhancing content in domains that are central to aging and retirement policy. The FOA highlights continued strengthening of measures related to health, physical functioning, and cognitive status, which are essential for understanding disability, healthcare utilization, and the ability to remain in the workforce. It also stresses deepening measurement of wealth, pensions, savings, and economic well-being to support analyses of retirement readiness, inequality, and the effects of pension and Social Security-related policy changes. In addition, it calls for improved coverage of family structure and psychosocial factors, recognizing that living arrangements, caregiving, social support, stress, and mental health can strongly influence both economic and health outcomes in older adults.
Another specific goal is to continue innovative sub-studies, with consumption and time use explicitly mentioned. These kinds of modules matter because income and wealth alone do not fully capture living standards or material well-being; consumption patterns can reveal how households actually sustain themselves, respond to shocks, and adjust spending in retirement. Time-use components can illuminate unpaid work, caregiving burdens, and how daily activities shift with health changes and labor force transitions. By supporting these sub-studies, the FOA encourages the HRS to keep generating the kinds of detailed behavioral and economic measures that policy analysts often need but cannot obtain from more limited surveys.
The FOA also places clear importance on linkages to administrative data and on continuing to develop those linkages further. Administrative records (for example, earnings histories, benefit receipt, or healthcare claims where applicable and permissible) can validate and enrich self-reported survey data, reduce measurement error, and enable more precise estimates of policy effects. This direction signals NIH's interest in a dataset that not only remains broad and representative, but also becomes more analytically powerful through carefully governed integration with high-quality external records.
Because the HRS is widely used as a public resource, the funding opportunity explicitly includes expectations around data distribution, user support, and broader accessibility. That means the award is not only paying for data collection, but also for the infrastructure and services that make the dataset usable: preparing documentation, codebooks, and metadata; maintaining secure and efficient dissemination systems; supporting researchers who use the data; and ensuring continuity in data releases. The FOA additionally emphasizes extending harmonization efforts with internationally comparable surveys of population aging. Harmonization is critical for cross-national comparisons, allowing researchers to study how different pension systems, healthcare systems, and labor markets shape aging outcomes. This part of the FOA suggests an ongoing commitment to compatibility with sister studies in other countries so that U.S. trends can be analyzed in a global context.
From a funding and award structure standpoint, this is a discretionary NIH opportunity using the cooperative agreement mechanism (U01). A cooperative agreement typically implies substantial NIH involvement compared to a standard research grant, often including active collaboration, coordination, and oversight in how the project meets program goals, timelines, data release expectations, and quality standards. The FOA anticipated a single award (Expected Awards: 1), reinforcing that this is a limited competition designed to support the continuation of a major national resource rather than distribute funding across multiple independent projects. The estimated total funding amount listed is $11,500,000 for the opportunity.
Eligibility is broad across many U.S.-based organization types, including public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, nonprofits (including 501(c)(3) and certain non-501(c)(3) entities), for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), small businesses, and various levels of government (state, county, city/township, special district). It also includes a range of mission-serving institutions and community-based organizations, such as HBCUs, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribally controlled colleges and universities, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian serving institutions, and faith-based or community-based organizations, along with certain eligible federal agencies and regional organizations. At the same time, the FOA clearly excludes non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities from applying, and does not allow foreign components of U.S. organizations, keeping the award and its primary operations U.S.-based.
Key administrative details included in the source data indicate the FOA was posted on April 7, 2011, with an original and current closing date of June 10, 2011, and an archive date of July 11, 2011. The CFDA number is 93.866 (Aging Research). There is no cost sharing or matching requirement stated. For further details, the announcement referenced an NIH grants guide link, and provided NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER) webmaster contacts for access or linking issues.
Overall, the opportunity is best understood as NIH's mechanism for ensuring the HRS remains a flagship, continuously operating, publicly accessible longitudinal study of aging in the United States, with explicit expectations to both preserve continuity and modernize content, methods, administrative linkages, international comparability, and user-facing data infrastructure during the next six-year project period.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the title and funding opportunity number for this grant?
The opportunity is titled "Limited Competition: The Health and Retirement Study (U01)" and the Funding Opportunity Number (FON) is RFA-AG-12-001.
Which agency is offering this funding opportunity?
This is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity.
What type of award mechanism is being used?
The award uses the NIH cooperative agreement mechanism, U01.
What does it mean that this is a cooperative agreement (U01)?
A cooperative agreement generally implies substantial NIH involvement compared to a standard research grant. The description indicates active collaboration, coordination, and oversight related to meeting program goals, timelines, data release expectations, and quality standards.
What is the main purpose of this funding opportunity?
The core purpose is to support continuation of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) for another six-year cycle, maintaining the long-running longitudinal study and its steady-state design while also improving and expanding what the study measures.
Is this funding intended to launch a new study?
No. The emphasis is on continuation rather than launching a new study. The FOA prioritizes preserving the established longitudinal design and consistent cadence of data collection.
What is the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) described as in this opportunity?
The HRS is positioned as a cornerstone, publicly available national data resource used by researchers, policy analysts, and program planners focused on aging-related policy questions, especially retirement and financial security. It is a longitudinal study tracking the same individuals over time to understand interactions among health, work, income, family circumstances, and broader economic conditions as people age.
Why is continuity of the HRS design emphasized?
Continuity is described as central to the dataset's value because consistent measures and repeated follow-up enable long-term trend analysis and evaluation of policy impacts and changes in behavior, health, and economic outcomes over many years.
Does the FOA encourage innovation, or is it purely maintenance-focused?
It encourages both. NIH signals the next cycle should preserve the backbone of the HRS while also including targeted innovation and methodological improvements to keep the study relevant as policy and scientific needs evolve.
What content areas does the FOA specifically want to strengthen or expand?
The FOA highlights enhancing measures in key domains tied to aging and retirement policy, including health, physical functioning, and cognitive status; wealth, pensions, savings, and economic well-being; and family structure and psychosocial factors.
What health-related measures are emphasized?
The FOA stresses continued strengthening of health, physical functioning, and cognitive status measures, which support research on disability, healthcare utilization, and the ability to remain in the workforce.
What economic and retirement measures are emphasized?
The FOA emphasizes deepening measurement of wealth, pensions, savings, and economic well-being to support analyses of retirement readiness, inequality, and the effects of pension and Social Security-related policy changes.
What family and psychosocial measures are emphasized?
The FOA calls for improved coverage of family structure and psychosocial factors, noting that living arrangements, caregiving, social support, stress, and mental health can influence economic and health outcomes in older adults.
Are any specific sub-studies or modules mentioned?
Yes. The FOA explicitly mentions continuing innovative sub-studies, including consumption and time use.
Why are consumption measures important in this FOA?
The FOA notes that income and wealth alone do not fully capture living standards or material well-being. Consumption patterns can show how households sustain themselves, respond to shocks, and adjust spending in retirement.
Why are time-use measures important in this FOA?
Time-use components can illuminate unpaid work, caregiving burdens, and how daily activities change with health changes and labor force transitions.
Does the FOA address linkages to administrative data?
Yes. It places clear importance on maintaining and further developing linkages to administrative data.
How does the FOA describe the value of administrative data linkages?
Administrative records can validate and enrich self-reported survey data, reduce measurement error, and enable more precise estimates of policy effects. The FOA signals interest in strengthening analytical power through carefully governed integration with high-quality external records.
Is the HRS expected to remain a publicly accessible resource?
Yes. The opportunity explicitly frames the HRS as a publicly available national data resource and includes expectations around data distribution, user support, and broader accessibility.
What kinds of data distribution and user support activities are included in scope?
The FOA includes infrastructure and services that make the dataset usable, such as preparing documentation, codebooks, and metadata; maintaining secure and efficient dissemination systems; supporting researchers who use the data; and ensuring continuity in data releases.
Does the FOA mention international harmonization?
Yes. It emphasizes extending harmonization efforts with internationally comparable surveys of population aging.
Why is international harmonization important according to the FOA?
Harmonization enables cross-national comparisons so researchers can analyze how different pension systems, healthcare systems, and labor markets shape aging outcomes, and place U.S. trends in a global context.
How many awards does NIH expect to make under this opportunity?
The FOA anticipated a single award (Expected Awards: 1), consistent with a limited competition to support continuation of a major national resource.
What is the estimated total funding amount?
The estimated total funding amount listed is $11,500,000.
What is the CFDA number for this opportunity?
The CFDA number is 93.866 (Aging Research).
When was the FOA posted?
The FOA was posted on April 7, 2011.
What were the closing date and archive date?
The original and current closing date is listed as June 10, 2011, and the archive date is July 11, 2011.
Is there a cost sharing or matching requirement?
No cost sharing or matching requirement is stated in the provided information.
Who is eligible to apply?
Eligibility is broad across many U.S.-based organization types, including public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, nonprofits (including 501(c)(3) and certain non-501(c)(3) entities), for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), small businesses, and various levels of government (state, county, city/township, special district). It also includes eligible federal agencies and regional organizations, plus mission-serving and community-based organizations such as HBCUs, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribally controlled colleges and universities, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian serving institutions, and faith-based or community-based organizations.
Are non-U.S. (foreign) organizations eligible to apply?
No. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities are excluded from applying.
Are foreign components of U.S. organizations allowed?
No. The FOA does not allow foreign components of U.S. organizations, keeping the award and primary operations U.S.-based.
Where does the FOA point users for additional information or technical help?
The announcement referenced an NIH grants guide link for further details and provided NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER) webmaster contacts for access or linking issues.
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